Musk's 'resign or reply' order for federal workers gets Trump's meme nod

Trump uses SpongeBob meme to back Musk's 'resign or reply' order, sparking backlash from unions, lawmakers, and federal agencies refusing to comply

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US President Donald Trump stirred up social media on Sunday by sharing an edited SpongeBob SquarePants meme to mock the backlash against Elon Musk’s directive asking federal employees to justify their work.

 

President Trump appeared to show support for Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after an email was sent out by the Office of Personnel Management over the weekend. The email instructed federal employees to list five accomplishments by 11.59 pm on Monday.

 

Musk later said on X that employees who failed to respond would be assumed to have resigned.

 

Trump shares meme mocking federal workers 

Trump, 78, posted a meme featuring SpongeBob SquarePants holding a pad and pencil, appearing deep in thought. Next to him, Patrick Star held another pad with an edited list titled ‘Got Done Last Week’.

 

The satirical list included: 

“Cried about Trump”

 

“Cried about Elon”

 

“Made it to the office for once”

 

“Read some emails”

 

“Cried about Trump and Elon some more”

 

 

Musk, 52, also shared the same image on X, calling the email a “very basic pulse check” in a separate post.

 

Union and lawmakers push back 

The email has sparked outrage among federal workers and their representatives. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents 800,000 workers, strongly opposed the directive.

 

“We believe that employees have no obligation to respond to this unlawful email absent other lawful direction,” wrote AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a letter to Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.

 

Democratic senator Tina Smith of Minnesota also slammed the email, calling it “the ultimate d–k boss move from Musk.”

 

“I bet a lot of people have had an experience like this with a bad boss — there’s an email in your inbox on Saturday night saying, ‘Prove to me your worthiness by Monday or else’. I’m on the side of the workers, not the billionaire a–hole bosses,” Smith wrote on social media.

 

Amid the controversy, some government agencies, including the FBI, Department of Defense, and State Department, have reportedly advised their employees not to respond to the email.